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In today's world, there are many different sauna options out there. When it comes to saunas, however, you really do get what you pay for. While the initial cost of a premium sauna may be higher, it is important to consider long-term savings, any additional hidden costs and also customer care for the future of your product. There's no shortage of cheap saunas that will only last a few years, but if you can invest and wait for a high-quality sauna, it will provide you with many more years of enjoyment. In this article, we will deep-dive into the most important aspects of buying a home sauna and compare the differences between expensive saunas and cheap saunas.
Infrared saunas can be bought and shipped to almost anywhere in the world today. While this allows people in remote communities to access these "fountain of youth" technologies, it also opens up the market to cheap and unethical manufacturers who capitalise on this booming health trend.
While healthy competition is crucial for a consumer to get the best deal possible, unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness of how a poor-quality sauna can be bad for your health. Money aside, an infrared sauna should be designed with a focus on prolonging your health and not inhibiting it. Before we talk about the health implications a cheap sauna can have, let's first look at why investing in an expensive sauna is an investment that will pay dividends for years to come.
When buying anything it’s important to look at the entire experience. Oftentimes your customer service interaction with a company can be just as crucial and memorable as making the main purchasing decision!
For example: when deciding on getting a sauna for home use - will there be a support team to help you if anything malfunctions or will the company seemingly be impossible to get in touch with after you've made the purchase?
Going solely based on saving money may seem like an easy way out, but in reality will cost you more in the long run, both in dollars and in time if something goes wrong. By all means, it pays to avoid any headaches that may come from dissatisfaction over poor products and services that don't meet your needs expected or promised.
Therefore, customer service should never go unnoticed when making decisions about a company or product you want to do business with. Always take the time to talk to the staff, look at the Google Reviews and ask about warranty details.
When it comes to choosing a sauna, quality should be your top priority. A sauna that is built to last will not only provide years of use but will also hold its value over time. The benefits of purchasing a high-quality sauna are many and include superior performances, an enjoyable experience for customers as well as service warranties.
Cheap saunas are often made with lower-quality materials, and they don't tend to last as long as their more expensive counterparts. The extra cost upfront will pay off in the long run, and you'll be able to enjoy all features without compromise. For many people, the value of an item is often judged by its price. But what would you rather have? A product with high-quality materials and design that will last for years, or, one made from lesser quality and cheaper components that are prone to breakage after just a few months in your home?
This may sound like common sense but we all know how tempting it can be to save a few dollars when it comes to buying time. While it seems logical enough - spending more upfront means fewer replacements in the future - don't let yourself get fooled. Ensure the sauna has all the correct certifications and follow up on any salesy 'one-of-a-kind' claims by asking for third-party proof. Remember, a cheap sauna has to cut costs somewhere.
Companies that manufacture high-quality goods receive a higher degree of trust from customers as a result of their greater worth. The mind is put at ease when picking an established brand with roots in tradition and history because it knows what to expect; there should be no surprises on this side of the transaction. This becomes especially important for those who depend upon these certain products time after time.
Think about when you buy a car, there is nothing more important than finding a brand you trust. The difference between an expensive and not-so-good quality vehicle can be daunting for consumers. Having to weigh up between saving money vs. something breaking down on you soon after buying is stressful. This leads us back to the point: do you feel the cheap sauna will provide you with your needs and fulfil expected promises? If the answer is no, it's probably best to keep looking.
When buying a product or service, it's important to consider not only the quality of what is being offered but also how much you value the offering. Features are an integral part when making the buying decision regardless if they are a need or simply a nice to have. While some features may not be initially valued by a consumer, generally it will cost you more to add them later than to get them during the initial purchase.
Features purely for your convenience alone are usually not initially thought about by the consumer - and it is why it's important to have trust for the company you are speaking to when they are explaining their offerings. A simple way to think about this is looking at airlines, while Jetstar may have the cheapest flights on paper, their hidden costs for baggage and snacks, combined with their reputation to cancel flights last minute can make the purchasing decision 'not worth it' for a customer. Compared to an airline like Virgin which is more expensive, but provides transparent pricing, care and reliability. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you as an individual value - are you willing to run the risk of potentially getting caught out last minute or would you prefer the peace of mind?
When it comes to the features of an infrared sauna, as a consumer you may only be thinking about heat, and so a hot room is good enough, right? Let's not forget that you want to be comfortable, have a relaxing experience, maybe listen to music through good quality speakers, explore coloured light therapy or chromotherapy to adjust your mood, smell the high-quality cedarwood aroma or even have aromatherapy brought in, maybe you want additional wellness technologies such as red light therapy, vibrational resonance therapy or even halotherapy at the same time!
Many of these features are included as standard – digital controls, music players, built-in chromotherapy - with more expensive infrared saunas and the best infrared saunas include even more add-ons as mentioned above.
Investing in the right products can save you money. If your finances are tight, it might seem like a tough decision between buying something cheap - now - versus saving for the crème de la crème that will keep you smiling for years to come.
But hear us out - purchasing durable items has many benefits from retaining their worth to perhaps even increasing in value, be it monetarily or perceived value. If saving funds seems difficult, just think about all those moments throughout life where you've compromised when you shouldn't have at it came back to bite you. Regardless, if you're reading this article you will know all too well that there isn't such thing as a 'cheap' sauna, only 'cheaper' saunas.
While we've already touched on the quality of the build and the quality of the materials, it is still important to touch on the aesthetics of the sauna. Like most things, it's in the finer details that aren't always noticeable from a small picture online. And like any expensive product, there will always be cheap rip-offs, and while these may look similar from afar the cheap rip-offs will never achieve the same aesthetic, because, let's face it, they're cheap rip-offs.
Ideally, you want to see the sauna in person and - even better - use it. If you can't find anywhere to test, try or see the sauna in person then there is probably a good reason... it's not so good. When in doubt, look at commercial wellness spas and clinics and see what they are using. Try it out, and see if it squeaks or feels flimsy. Even ask them if they are happy with the company they are doing business with. And more importantly, take a look at the finer details to see if it looks how much it costs.
The last point we will make about comparing expensive saunas with cheap saunas from a smart buying decision is the warranty. A warranty will not only ensure it will be working properly for the set amount of time, but it will also indicate to you how much trust the company has in its product's ability to last.
A 1-year warranty product versus a 10-year warranty product tells the consumer that the company manufacturing it is confident that you won't have any problems in the first 10 years, and if you do, they will cover the expenses. Comparing this to a company that only is willing to cover you for the first year after purchase really says it all.
Remember that the longer the product warranty lasts the cheaper over-time the product costs you. $10,000 over 10 years costs you $1,000 a year, whereas $5,000 over 2 years costs you $2,500 a year. A company like Clearlight® Saunas offers a lifetime warranty on their saunas compared to others that only offer 5 years. While the initial cost might be more upfront, over time you will save money well into the future.
But making a smarter buying decision isn't the only reason to opt for a more expensive sauna. Choosing a sauna company that has the health and well-being of people in mind is even more important. While a white-labelled sauna from China might save you 50% it is, without doubt, cheaper because it is cutting costs in places that you are unaware of. Let's explore these places and how they can impact your health.
Infrared saunas are an exceptional piece of technology to lower stress levels, assist in weight loss, improve blood flow and blood circulation, remove toxins, reduce joint pain and help you relax. But not all infrared saunas are created equal.
Infrared heat works by penetrating deep into your muscle tissue. The infrared heat causes the water molecules in fat cells to vibrate, and this raises the core body temperature from the inside out. This unique quality of infrared heat is what makes infrared saunas and far infrared saunas superior at removing toxins when compared to other saunas, such as steam rooms/steam sauna or a traditional sauna.
A cheap sauna might use a reasonable quality infrared heater to produce the correct nanometres (nm) of far infrared heat - however - toxic glues, varnishes and the actual grade quality of the timber are the first corners a cheap sauna manufacturer will cut to lower its costs. What does this mean for your health?
The VOCs or volatile organic compounds are toxic materials that off-gass harmful microparticles when heated. Think of paints, varnishes and glues. When they are heated they produce a smell and this smell is toxic to inhale. While you may not even notice the smell of these toxins, they do exist in cheap saunas, and so ensuring your sauna has no VOCs is an important aspect of your overall health benefits and experience.
Infrared heating requires electrical parts and the electricity causes what is known as electromagnetic fields (EMF) and extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF).
EMF/ELF levels are harmful because they can cause interference in the body's natural electrical system. This can disrupt sleep, and cause headaches and a range of other health problems. There is a range of symptoms people can experience with high EMF exposure, including:
While there is much debate on the adverse effects of EMF and ELF on the human body, a simple analogy is to think about a wifi router - as they produce high levels of EMF/ELF. Ask yourself, would you want to sleep next to a wifi router every night? This same context applies to your infrared sauna. You probably don't want to spend up to an hour in an infrared sauna that is exposing you to high levels of EMF/ELF, three times a week.
Only the premium sauna brands will be aware of EMF and ELF exposure, and while some competitors may claim to have low EMF and ELF levels, they don't always have proof - third-party testing - or measurements when the sauna is turned on. That's why it's always important to verify any claims or certifications a sauna brand may have as the sauna industry is still heavily unregulated.
A dry sauna session is an excellent way to improve one's health and well-being. More saunas today are utilising radiant heat (infrared) over traditional steam saunas and their heat source of hot rocks. As we talked about earlier, this is because infrared saunas heat the body directly and not the air temperature or humidity of the cabin, are cheaper to run, easier to deliver and simply more efficient.
Heater placement matters in an infrared sauna because - for the infrared to work - the wavelengths must be pointing directly at the areas of your body that contain mass. Most cheap infrared saunas have heaters that run up and over your head, essentially wasting electricity and energy and driving the cost of running your infrared sauna up.
Even infrared saunas that have panels that are behind your head are a waste, as your head is an area of the body that doesn't contribute to the raising of your core temperature. While this wastage of infrared heaters isn't necessarily bad for your health - it is certainly not an excellent choice and shows a lack of understanding from the infrared sauna manufacturer of how infrared works.
Whether it's an indoor or outdoor sauna, opting for an expensive model is always going to be a smarter buying decision. If money is tight it might be worth considering saving money on size rather than quality - to avoid any of the problems you will face with a cheap sauna purchase. Getting clear on what you value is going to make the buying decision much easier when you begin to talk to a salesperson, and remember to follow some of the tips above to ensure you don't get caught out on empty promises.
Clearlight® Saunas is the most premium infrared sauna brand in the world and while the price tag reflects this, so too does the number of 5-star reviews, service and quality. If you are in the market for an infrared sauna or you simply want to understand your payment options, get in touch with Clearlight® Saunas and ask how they can help you achieve your dream infrared sauna for your home today.
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